Grain-car door.



I R. a. MOFFITT.

GRAIN CAR DOOR. APPLICATION F-ILED Amzo, 19w.

Patented July. 2, 1918.

FL r5 E Fn3 l INVENTOR WITNESSES y WWW ATTORNEY GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1918.

Application filed April 20, 1917. Serial No. 163,481.

' of which the following is, a specification.

This invention relates to grain car doors.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a door of thecharacter stated of simple construction and operation which may beproduced at relatively small cost. A further object is to provide a doorwhich may be used with either a steel car or a wooden car and, when usedwith a wooden car will not necessitate damaging the latter by driving ofnails or other securing elements into the door frame. A further objectis to provide a door which may be quickly and easily applied withoutnecessia tating any extensive alterations inthe construction of the doorframe, and may, for this reason, be readily used in connection with carsof standard construction. A still further object is to provide a doorwhich may be readily raised so as to permit the escape of grain whenunloading the car. Further objects will appear from the de-' taileddescription.

In the drawings i 7 Figurel is a. central sectional view taken through adoor constructed in accordance with my invention as applied;

Fig. 2 is a front View of the door as applied;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the bottom plate of the door;

Fig. l is a similar view of the securing strap for the door post and theupper end portion of the post showing the cotiperating slot and fingerof the clamp and post for preventing end play of the latter.

The car A is provided with the usual door-Way or opening B which issurrounded by the door frame G of standard construe tion. A socket l issecured in the floor D of the car at the transverse center of the dooropening. This socket receives the lower end of a vertical door post Qtheupper end. of which fits snugly in the hook 3' of a securing strap 4which is provided with the integral shank 5 disposed in a plane at rightangles to the plane of the hook and secured to the top beam E of thedoor frame by screws 6. As will be noted from Fig. 4 of the drawings,the free end of hook 3 is turned in substantially at right angles toprovide a finger for engagement into a recess or slot formedin the upperportion of post 2 so as to .prevent rotary movement of the post when inoperative position. By this means, the door post may be quickly andeasily secured'in position so as to 6X- tend across the door opening atthe transverse center thereof, and when desired, may be readily removedby forcing the upper end of the post inward so as to force it 'out ofthe hook 3, whichis open and resilient for this purpose, the socket 1being slightly larger in interior diameter than the exterior diameter ofthe post 2 to permit inward movement of the upper end of the post, orthe securing hook 4 may be removed from door beam E. p

This post serves to support the door 7 and to prevent inward movement ofthe same. Door 7 is composed of a plurality, in this case three, ofplates 8, 9, and 10. These plates may be formed by rolling out of sheetmetal of suitable thickness, and are of such length as to extend acrossthe door opening, the ends of the plates projecting a short distanceinside of the side beams of the door frame, as in Fig. 2 of thedrawings. Plate 8 is turned inward at right. angles at its lower edge,as at 8 and is then bent down at right angles toprovide a dependingflange 8 this flange being set in from the body of the plate a distancecorresponding tothe thickness of the plate. This depending inset flange8 forms a recess at the bottom of plate 8 extending the full lengththereof which snugly receives the upper edge portion of plate 9. Thelower edge portion of plate 9 is similarly bent to provide a dependingflange 9 which forms a longitudinally extending recess to receive theupper edge portion of bottom plate 10. By this means, the plates may besecured in interlocking engagement so as to produce practically aunitary structure which is comparatively light but very strong andrigid, the flanges 8 and 9" also serving to provide tight closuresbetween the plates of the body of the door so as to effectuallyeliminate all danger of leakage of the grain.

The bottom plate 10 is provided with two apertures 11 and 12 which aredisposed equidistant from the longitudinal center of the plate and insubstantially the plane of the transverse center of the plate. Theseapertures receive the inner ends of the arm of a orrio.

U-clip 13. This clip fits snugly about post 2 with its arms extendingthrough the apertures 11 and 12 so as to project beyondthe inner face ofthe plate, each arm of the clip being threaded to receive a securing nut14. By this means the plate is detachably secured 'to the post 2, theouter face of the plate fitting tightly against :the inner face of theside beam of the door frame, the post 2 being so positioned as .to haveits innermost face in the same :plane as the inner facesof the sidebeams of the :door frame. The center plate 9 is similarlysecured to thepost 2 by a "U-clip 15, the'top plate '8 being secured to #the post by aclip 16. The clips 13, 15, and :16, While serving "to effectuallyprevent inward movement of the'door, permit the door to be raisedvertically by means of a suitable instrument inserted under the same.

The bottom plate 10 has its lower edge portion bent at right angles toprovide the horizontal shoulder 17 and then turned downward atrightangles to formthedepending flange '18. This fiange'is provided-withtwo recesses or pockets 19 positioneda short distance from each end ofthe plate and equidistantfrom the longitudinal center thereof. When itis desired to *raisethedoor, a suitable instrument, such as apinch-barmay be inserted into the pockets 19 and the door may be readily raisedby this means. When the grain has been removed from the car the doormaybe quicklyand easily-removed, as a unit,-b v removingthe post 2 inthe'manner previously described or, if'desired, each plate of the doormaybe removed separately from the post, after whichthe post may beremoved.

By bending the plates so as to produce the depending flange at the loweredge of each plate, and the intermediate horizontal arm or shoulderconnecting this flange to the body of the plate, I produce, in effect,an angle "iron construction at the lower edge of .each plate whichrenders it possible to construct the plates of comparatively lightmaterial. As the door plates are mounted in interlocking or overlappingrelation, they serve to reinforce each other thus producing adoor oflight weight .well able to withstand ithepressure to which it issubjected by the :graincontained within the car.

hat is claimed is The combination witha car body having a dooropening-and a frameextending about the sameyof a socket secured in thefloor of said body, an open resilient :hook secured to the top beam ofthe frame in vertical-alimement with .said :socket and provided at itsfreeend with an integral inwardly extendingdinger, alpost having itslower end seat-,

ed in said socketand its upper endmounted in the book so as to bedetachably secured thereby v to the top beam of the door frame, saidpost being provided in its upper end with a slot to receive said fingerso as to secure the :post against rotary movement and a plurality-ofsuperposed plates secured to the post and extending across the dooropening .-and having their ends projecting beyond the sideibeams of thedoor frame adjacentthe inner face thereof.

Intestimony whereof :I affix my-signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT R. MOFFITT.

Witnesses JAMES GIBSON, KAY SWADLEY.

maples oiithiapatent maybe obtained forifive cents each, byaddressingrthe Commissipuerot Patents.

Washington, 1L0.

